Yes Virginia There is a Police State

Hyperbole? You decide if this is how you believe the police should
behave when citizens are exercising their constitutional right to free
speech.
On Monday, December 16, 16 people were arrested at two different
locations on Hwy 26 outside John Day, OR. They were there in response
to Omega Morgan Company moving a heat condenser from the port of
Umatilla to the Tar Sands site of the XL pipeline in Canada. This
mega-load is so wide that it takes up two lanes of traffic, is 18 feet
high, 376 feet long and weighs 450 tons. A similar load was unstable
enough to tip over the next day and snarl up traffic on I-205 for
hours.
Four of the protesters put disabled vehicles on the highway to block
the mega-load and bravely locked themselves to the cars. Their action
is to protest the devastation of the Athabascan
and waters in Alberta that have been destroyed by the mining of the
dirty Tar Sands. Additionally, they protest the fact that if all the
oil is mined and burned, it will release more carbon than scientists
say the planet can tolerate without baking. The protesters were acting
to protect all of us.
The police responded by arresting not only the four, but also 12
support people (including one minor) who were standing off on the side
of the road. Officers issued no warning. Various items were taken from
the protesters leaving them exposed to sub-freezing temperatures for
45 minutes. Some of the activists who were locked down to the vehicles
were dragged across the asphalt while still locked to the vehicles,
literally a risk to limbs if not lives. They were taken to waiting
ambulances and inside these vehicles, which are intended to provide
medical care to people, officers used pain compliance to force
protesters to comply with various demands. In some countries this is
called torture.
Earlier this month some of these same protesters were on hand across
the street from the $32,000-per-couple fundraiser that President Obama
held in Seattle. They were again peacefully trying to reach the
President through banners asking him to cancel the XL pipeline. Secret
Service ran jamming devices so that all cell phones in the area went
straight to voice mail but could not connect, again interfering with
protesters’ (and uninvolved neighbors’) ability to communicate with
each other and the press, and thus with their right to free speech. An
intimidating armored vehicle was also parked on the street and swat
team members in bullet-proof vests, carrying assault weapons, paraded
around. Well, we need to protect the President you say? Agreed, but
this over-the-top show of force is just a waste of taxpayers’ money
and also violates civil liberties.
During Occupy, in city after city the “riot control” squads came out
to control crowds of completely non-violent protesters. Swat teams
were clad in all black “Darth Vader outfits” with smoked visor helmets
that render them faceless. They do not have their names listed on
their jackets like regular police, and act anonymously, with impunity.
We learned at that time that squads in every major city had been given
special military training, which includes the tactics of
disorientation, “pain compliance” techniques used last Monday in John
Day, and tear gas sprayed directly into people’s face (which can be
life threatening if someone has asthma). Why would we militarize
police who deal with American civilians? Is this how we want our
citizenry treated? Is this what we want done with our tax dollars?
So maybe climate change is not your cause. But whatever your favorite
cause, is this how you would like to be treated if you came out to
simply demonstrate your thoughts? I think there was wisdom in the
Founding Father’s desire to protect dissent, regardless of the cause,
which they saw as critical to true democracy.
Lynn Fitz-Hugh, Seattle, is a lifelong peace activist, a mother,
therapist, and writes for PeaceVoice.

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